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The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention |  | Author: William Rosen
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $28.00
Buy New: $16.25
as of 9/8/2010 05:32 CDT details
You Save: $11.75 (42%)
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Seller: CookingMomBooks
Rating:  17 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 1400067057
Dewey Decimal Number: 909.81
EAN: 9781400067053
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9781400067053 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
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| • | Kindle Edition - The Most Powerful Idea in the World | | • | Audible Audio Edition - The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention | | • | Audio CD - The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention | | • | Audio CD - The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention | | • | Audio CD - The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention | | • | Kindle Edition - The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention |
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Product Description
If all measures of human advancement in the last hundred centuries were plotted on a graph, they would show an almost perfectly flat line—until the eighteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution would cause the line to shoot straight up, beginning an almost uninterrupted march of progress.
In The Most Powerful Idea in the World, William Rosen tells the story of the men responsible for the Industrial Revolution and the machine that drove it—the steam engine. In the process he tackles the question that has obsessed historians ever since: What made eighteenth-century Britain such fertile soil for inventors? Rosen’s answer focuses on a simple notion that had become enshrined in British law the century before: that people had the right to own and profit from their ideas.
The result was a period of frantic innovation revolving particularly around the promise of steam power. Rosen traces the steam engine’s history from its early days as a clumsy but sturdy machine, to its coming-of-age driving the wheels of mills and factories, to its maturity as a transporter for people and freight by rail and by sea. Along the way we enter the minds of such inventors as Thomas Newcomen and James Watt, scientists including Robert Boyle and Joseph Black, and philosophers John Locke and Adam Smith—all of whose insights, tenacity, and ideas transformed first a nation and then the world.
William Rosen is a masterly storyteller with a keen eye for the “aha!” moments of invention and a gift for clear and entertaining explanations of science. The Most Powerful Idea in the World will appeal to readers fascinated with history, science, and the hows and whys of innovation itself.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
 excellent with one reservation July 15, 2010
Robert Platt (NY NY)
22 out of 25 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful introduction to steam and a great bird's eye view of how the modern world was made. It could have easily been twice as long and still been thrilling. Not only do we get a view of the mechanics behind the engine, its business role, and the lives of the great inventors, we get an excursion into the cognitive process of invetors and scientists. This is important, because Rosen points out that the inventor's lot is not always a happy one, before and after their big score. They do not necessarily have the life skills that lead to great profit and prosperity.
Rosen posits that modern patent law is the cornerstone of modern development, and makes a strong case. You not only need the intellectual spark, you need it to fall on a source of business fuel. This was most possible in Britain and the US, where the IP system, and population scale, afforded rewards enough to keep invetors encouraged. There are counter examples about the relevance of all this, of course.
After all, it was the Portuguese and Spanish who were the first to open Europe to the world. And the French were building giant canals before the English and Americans, and, despite 20% lower GDP, currently have two years' longer life expectancy.
Read the reviews carefully July 29, 2010
C. Hawkins (Fairfield, CT USA)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I got pulled into this by a friend. We had liked Rosen's earlier book: Justinian's Flea Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe. His new book brings the same, easy to read style to another history subject. Just reading the first chapter got me right away. You can read the other reviews here...
But what really bothers me is that several people have voted only one stars on this book. They are not voting on the quality of the read, but on the pricing of the book by the publisher for the electronic version. Well, I bought the electronic version, and I saved money verses the hardcover. Yes, it is higher than many e-books, but that is not the fault of the author. Come on, rate the book on its merit.
One of history's great hinge moments July 28, 2010
Watt (New York)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is about a major turning point in human history, and why it happened. By most measures of human advancement, the world pretty much stayed the same between the second and eighteenth centuries, and then something happened. Rosen tackles a question that has obsessed historians ever since--why it happened in England in the 18th c. The book is worth reading because Rosen is a good writer, both in terms of storytelling and explaining science, technology, and law, and because the book will help you to understand how societies can encourage innovation and therefore growth. If I had a complaint, it's that the author is so into his story that he occasionally followed tributaries that I didn't find interesting. But I found it pretty easy to skip over those parts without losing the thread.
Wit and Wisdom July 28, 2010
ANNAMARIA TURANO
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I happened to catch the author on The Daily Show this week and was intrigued by how he "held his own" vs. Jon Stewart while also providing interesting nuggets as to how the concept of "inventions" emerged over time. It's not often that a book provides such a holistic view of the events surrounding the core theme - but Bill lives up to his "billing" with wit and wisdom on every page as he leads the reader through the shaping of the patent system.
Great Read July 31, 2010
Lois Leftwich
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Although I am not typically drawn to historical non-fiction, I found this book to be fascinating. Rosen has hit upon a key aspect of human nature by exploring the importance of claiming ownership of and receiving credit for ideas. Obviously Rosen is an intelligent writer and this book not only informs, but inspires.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 17
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